UK National Waste Lead Researcher: Geography: Data date range: Sources Covered: Sector Users Covered: Jimena Villegas England and Wales 1998, 2002 and 2009 GHG Industry, Agriculture, Energy, Commercial, Residential Summary Waste generation on the industrial, commercial and residential sectors was reviewed for England. The years covered were 1998, 2002 and 2009, which were selected based on the waste surveys carried out by the environmental authorities in England. England itself accounts for about 80% of the waste generated in the UK. Other countries have carried out their own waste surveys however they all differ in years, methodology and waste classification, which is why reporting totals for the UK would result in low confidence levels due to assumptions. This report also includes waste management analysis and GHG emissions related to this activity. Contrary to water consumption in the UK, waste generation has had slight decreases during the last decade. In the year 1998 the three sectors generated 95,182,000 tonnes of waste in England, while in 2009 they generated 82,341,053 tonnes, giving a total reduction of 13% over a decade. Nevertheless between 1998 and 2002 there was an increase of 2% of waste. It is not possible to attribute the reduction to a specific sector, firstly for the reason that the residential sector has had a similar total amount of waste generation along the years, and secondly because the nature of business in the industrial and commercial sectors have changed in the last decades. However the analysis within the sectors gives some interesting facts related to those reasons. One trend that can be identified shows a large waste reduction in the industrial sector, first a decrease of 17% between 1998 and 2002, and then 45% from 2002 and 2009. Simultaneously, the commercial sector presents an increasing waste generation trend, which can be due to industrial companies moving their business model into services type, changing the share on waste generation and being the commercial sector the largest waste generator today (DEFRA, 2009). The residential sector presented an increase of 10% between the first two surveys and then a similar reduction between the last ones. However, even when the average per household per year has the same behavior as the residential total waste generation, the relative reduction in waste generation per household is larger than that for the total in the last two surveys. The data shows how recycling rates have increased in the last decade, especially between 2002 and 2009. The residential sector recycled 40% more in 2002 than in 1998 and 60% more in 2009 than in 2002, while the industrial and commercial sectors together had smaller increases, first of 14% and after of 2%. The percentage of materials recycled varies between the years however the main material recycled in industry was metallic waste and discarded equipment with an average of 7% over the total waste generation. In the commercial sector, paper and card was the most recycled material increasing shares in 8 points from 1998 to 2002 until reaching 17%. The main material recycled in the residential sector was organic waste for compost, reaching 13% share in 2009 which is then followed by paper and card with 6.4% and co-mingle waste with 5.8%. Co-mingle waste is a combination of recyclable waste separated in households to be picked up by the recollection system. It initiated in 2002 and the data evidences a rapid augmentation if compared with the share of the year 2009. One of the disadvantages of this recycling system is that rejection rates from material’s buyers are higher because of the material not being in optimum state to be recycled. However according to other waste stakeholders in England co-mingle recycling contributes to increase recycling rates at household levels (WRAP, 2009). The industry and commerce waste survey in 2002 gives details on the type of waste generated by both sectors. The industrial sector mainly generates combustion residues being about 25.5%, followed by a miscellaneous combustible waste with a percentage of 17% and after comes paper and card with 9%. Food, green, wood and other organic waste add up 17% of the industrial waste. The commercial sector’s main waste is paper and card being about 29%. Food, green, wood and other organic waste also shares an important percentage in this sector being 25%, which is then followed by miscellaneous waste of about 17%. Households’ waste composition is mainly shared by green waste, paper and card, food waste and glass being 20%, 18%, 17% and 7% respectively. Waste management in England has had a large transformation in the three years analyzed. Waste to landfill has been mainly replaced by recycling being today 25% and 52% respectively. The share of waste used for energy recovery has increased by one point in the three analyzed years until getting to 6% in 2009. However one of England’s waste strategies today is to manage waste which can’t be recycled by means of energy recovery in order to reduce even more the fraction of waste going to landfills. Analyzing each sector some differences on waste management can be identified. First the residential sector which represents the municipal waste and includes households and public zones, sent about 82% of the waste to landfills in 1998, 75% in 2002 and 47% in 2009. The recycling rate in households has double since 1998 until the point of reaching 39% in 2009, which is close to achieve the target that England has established of 40% for 2010 (DEFRA, 2007). Second, the commercial sector has made use of landfills more than the industrial sector, 54% in 1998 and 48% in 2002, while the industrial sector has been 43% and 45% respectively. Similarly, the industrial sector has been stronger in recycling than the commercial sector by presenting larger percentages of waste being managed on that way instead of being sent to landfills. However together the industrial and commercial sector has increased the recycling rates up to 58% and reduced the landfill share to 15% in 2009. One of the environmental impacts related with waste management is GHG emissions, which in 2009 were responsible for 4% of the UK’s emissions. According to the department of energy and climate change (DECC), which follows the requirements of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), the main management method that contributes to GHG in waste management is landfill. It is responsible for about 90% of the emissions while the other methods reported, sewage sludge decomposition and incineration without energy recovery, account only for 10%. Emissions related to waste to energy recovery are not reported for being considered as a renewable energy under the UNFCC (Browns, K. 2010, E-mail pers. comm., 23 November). The reductions in waste going to landfills have decreased GHG emissions in 31% from 1998 to 2002, and in 22% from 2002 to 2008 in England, this same proportion can be found for the whole UK case. It is not possible to directly relate these reductions to the increasing diversions from landfill to other management methods found in this analysis, as landfill emissions depend on waste decomposition over long periods of time. However, minimizing waste going to landfill and given more priority to recycling and to waste-toenergy is part of the waste strategy of England not only for addressing this environmental impairment but also for addressing sustainability. Gap Analysis and Future Research: The data showed is based on government organizations such the Environment Agency, which gives a high confidence level to the data gathered. However, waste statistics depend on different variables such economic sector and type of waste classifications, which have been changed in different occasions making more difficult the comparison between waste statistics from the different environmental agencies in the UK. However since 2002 the European Commission has required every two years reports on waste generation from all members, which might contribute to the waste statistics in the UK. In addition, the waste surveys for the industrial and commercial sectors in England has been carried out without an established frequency, leaving in some cases large gaps on information such as the case of the last two surveys that had a gap of 7 years. Future research on recycling systems at household levels could contribute to the evaluation of the systems that have been put into practice in England in recent years. An example of this case is co-mingling which was first identified in the 2002 survey and has increased since then, even when there have been some oppositions to this practice. Research on this subject would contribute to recent information on households’ behaviors towards recycling, material quality for recovery, recycling rates, between more benefits and possible improvements to the recycling systems applied to households. Similarly, there is an identified need of assessing the environmental impact of GHG emitted by the wasteto-energy method in the UK, even when it is considered as a renewable source of energy for international organizations. This is important to be able to compare it with the effect of diverting waste from landfill as well as for having more complete information for life cycle studies of products and assessing consumer use and post-use phases. Data Sources: http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/waste/wrindustry.htm Municipal Waste Management 2003/4 http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/wastats/archive.htm Municipal Waste Management 1998/99 http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/wastats/archive.htm DEFRA Composition of Household Waste 2002 http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/waste/kf/wrkf18.htm Carbon Balances and Energy Impacts of the Management of UK Wastes http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&Completed=0&P rojectID=14644 Industrial and Commercial Waste Survey 1998/99. Provided by the Environmental Agency by email request. DEFRA. e-Digest Statistics about: Waste and Recycling. Special Waste http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/waste/wrspecial.htm ONS. Population Trends Archive. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/product.asp?vlnk=6303 DEFRA. e-Digest Statistics about: Waste and Recycling. Total annual waste arising http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/waste/wrtotalwaste.htm
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